Spears v. Butler

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION ) DION SPEARS, R21654, ) ) Petitioner, ) No. 15 C 8401 ) v. ) Judge Virginia M. Kendall ) FRANK LAWRENCE, Warden, ) Menard Correctional Center,* ) Respondent. ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER In 2009, an Illinois jury convicted Dion Spears of first-degree murder and other firearms and narcotics charges. The state court sentenced Spears to a total of 73 years in prison. For the last decade, Spears has fought to overturn those convictions and sentences. On direct appeal, the court vacated Spears’s narcotics…